to the misery of a
country we are so anxious to protect and cherish." They say, that, "when
oppression pervades the whole country, when youths have been suffered
with impunity to exercise sovereign jurisdiction over the natives, and
to acquire rapid fortunes by monopolizing of commerce, it cannot be a
wonder to us or yourselves that Dadney merchants do not come forward to
contract with the Company, that the manufactures find their way through
foreign channels, or that our investments are at once enormously dear
and of a debased quality. It is evident, then, that the evils which have
been so destructive to us lie too deep for any partial plans to reach or
correct; it is therefore our resolution to aim at the root of those
evils, and we are happy in having reason to believe that in every just
and necessary regulation we shall meet with the approbation and support
of the legislature, who consider the public as materially interested in
the Company's prosperity."

This is to show your Lordships that Mr. Hastings was armed with great
powers to correct great abuses, and that there was reposed in him a
special trust for that purpose. And now I shall show, by the
twenty-fifth paragraph of the same letter, that they intrusted Mr.
Hastings with this very great power from some particular hope they had,
not only of his abstaining himself, which is a thing taken for granted,
but of his restraining abuses through every part of the service; and
therefore they say, "that, in order to effectuate this great end, the
first step must be to restore perfect obedience and due subordination to
your administration. Our Governor and Council must reassume and exercise
their delegated powers upon every just occasion,--punish delinquents,
cherish the meritorious, discountenance that luxury and dissipation
which, to the reproach of government, prevailed in Bengal. Our
President, Mr. Hastings, we trust, will set the example of temperance,
economy, and application; and upon this, we are sensible, much will
depend. And here we take occasion to indulge the pleasure we have in
acknowledging Mr. Hastings's services upon the coast of Coromandel, in
constructing with equal labor and ability the plan which has so much
improved our investments there; and as we are persuaded he will
persevere in the same laudable pursuit through every branch of our
affairs in Bengal, he, in return, may depend on the steady support and
favor of his employers." Here are not only